Sydney's Tent City Crisis Escalates As State Government Forced To Intervene

Stalemate.

Natalie Shoebridge

2017-08-08T02:42:08Z

Image: @leonie_thorne

Despite Lord Mayor Clover Moore declaring last night that a deal had been struck with the campers at the CBD 'tent city', the homeless people set up around Martin Place have refused to move on.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has stated that the government will now step in to resolve the matter, with a special cabinet meeting underway at the time of writing.

“Last night, I heard the mayor say that the tent city would be gone overnight,” Ms Berejiklian said.

“This morning, that hasn’t happened.”

An announcement is expected later today, outlining the way forward.

Ms Moore released the following statement this morning, outlining concerns regarding the intervention.

“I’ve been deeply concerned by the threat of heavy handed action by the state government and the risk of a repeat of the scenes in Melbourne where police dragged vulnerable homeless people off the streets,” Ms Moore said.

“I’ve spent the past four days in meetings with Police and the Minister and people from the tent camp in Martin Place and on the phone with the Premier and my staff have held high level talks with the department and police to thrash out a way forward.

“The law hasn’t changed in the past week — the City still has no power to move people on and we still strongly believe that without long term, supported and affordable housing, we’re going to see more homeless camps across the CBD.”

The self-proclaimed 'Mayor of Martin Place' Lanz Priestly announced today that the homeless people would not be moving despite negotiating a deal with Ms Moore on Monday evening.